Here are 5 of the most hilarious moments of Kris Srikkanth from the 1983 World Cup which have been also included in the Bollywood movie 83.
1. When Srikkanth blames Kapil Dev of ruining his Honeymoon plan
To be very frank, no one had believed that team India could do something so great in the 1983 World Cup – not even the players themselves. And that can be verified by this incident. In an interview, Kris Srikkanth revealed that he, Sunil Gavaskar, Roger Binny and a number of other main team players had decided to play in the World Cup as a part of their ‘trip’ as they had planned to go to the USA after being eliminated in the World Cup.
They had even booked tickets for the USA and Kris Srikkanth had planned to make it into his second Honeymoon with wife Vidya. However, all those plans were ruined after they won the World Cup as they had to return to India to meet the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Kris Srikkanth said, “Sunny (Gavaskar) called me up and said, ‘We are going to America for a holiday after the World Cup. We will play the World Cup on the way, so please book your tickets for Bombay to New York (with a) stop-over in London to play the World Cup.’
“That was the original plan. Sandeep (Patil), Roger Binny – all of us had booked our tickets like that. We were actually going for a holiday to the US. We thought we would play the 1983 World Cup (along the way).”
“After the World Cup, we were forced to come back to India to meet the Prime Minister and the President. Then, we had to book the US tickets again in the month of August.
“We faced a loss of 10,000 INR because of this and Kapil, you have to reimburse the money with interest (jokingly)
2. “Kya Paagal ho gaya hai humara Captain !”
This scene can be seen in the trailer of the movie 83 as well. In team India’s gala after they won the 1983 World Cup, Kris Srikkanth was narrating an incident when Kapil Dev had said to the team that they were going to win the world cup. The batsman at that time had exclaimed that their captain had gone mad. It later got turned into a reality.
He said, “Kapil Dev said when we can beat West Indies once, we can beat them once more. We thought that this bugger has become a fool. Roger (Binny), myself, Kiri (Syed Kirmani), Kirti (Azad) and all of us who were smoking thought that this guy had gone mad that day.
“(We thought) you are talking about beating this West Indian team. Thank God, none of us wants to remember the names of those four fast bowlers ever in our lives.“
“And this idiot Kapil is coming and telling us that we will win this game. We thought kya paagal hai hamara captain (Our captain is such a fool).”
3. Kris Srikkanth’s superstition
Who doesn’t remember Kapil Dev’s famous 175 not out knock against Zimbabwe that ultimately gave India the momentum they required to get going in the tournament. Srikkanth, Sunil Gavaskar had both departed for a duck in that match and Mohinder Amarnath, Sandeep Patil and Yashpal Sharma had all scored in single digits. India were 17/5 when Kapil Dev came in to bat and changed the fate of the game.
Kris Srikkanth remembers the incident thoroughly. He was standing with his wife Vidya in the balcony to see Kapil Dev’s innings who was playing terrifically well. His teammates then forced him to keep on standing at that same spot for the entirety of Kapil Dev’s knock as they believed that the captain would be out if Kris moved by even an inch.
“There are a lot of superstitions in cricket. Kapil was batting well when I was standing with my wife Vidya outside the dressing room. And throughout his innings, I was asked to keep standing there because of a feeling that if I moved even an inch, Kapil would get out,” Kris Srikkanth remembered.
“It was a cold, windy day and things were not easy for me or Vidya. But Kapil’s innings made us forget the ordeal.”
4. Winking at Indira Gandhi
Kris Srikkanth’s winking habit is pretty famous among Indian fans. But very few know that it is not only limited to the field and the batsman struggles with this peculiar mannerism off the field as well and it is out of his control. One time he even winked at the then Prime minister Indira Gandhi when she had summoned them to celebrate the World Cup victory !
Kapil Dev said, “Srikkanth always winked. So, us senior players told him that Madam Indira Gandhi was going to come meet us, and that he was not allowed to wink at her. I was taking her down the line-up and Cheeka was next to Sunil Gavaskar.
“Now, anyone who meets Gavaskar would take that 30 seconds extra to interact with him. The moment I introduced Cheeka, he started winking left, right and centre at her.”
5. Kris Sikkannth the ‘Dadpadango’
Kris Sikkanth suffered from many mannerisms and one of them was that he never walked straight on the field. His peculiar walking style often led to him falling off the stairs as he did not watch down while walking. That was the sole reason why his teammates used to call him ‘Dadpadango’